Showing posts with label favorite artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label favorite artists. Show all posts

Friday, April 17, 2009

Guess Who's One !

Who me ?

I am one already ? You must be joking !

Now leave me alone. Can't you see I'm painting here ?

Yes, my beautiful niece Kate (who takes after me already !) is turning one next week on the 22nd, Earth Day ! I can't belive how fast the time has gone ! She is the coolest baby I have met in a very long time - so smart and wise yet curious, silly and fun at the same time. I think babies being born in this Time are pretty special. It is almost like they are arriving into the world with some added knowledge and tools that they will need to change things for the better around here. Well, that is my hope, our hope, right ?

Anyway, we are having a birthday get-together this weekend for my my budding artist niece (did you notice she was painting in green !!!;-)). David and I and Chica are headed up to La Conception, Quebec with a few carefully chosen gifts for the girl and so looking forward to seeing her and her Mom, Dad and big bro, Thomas. The weather is supposed to be delightfully spring-like and there is sure to be cake and ice cream involved ! I can't wait to breathe in the fresh country air and snuggle that baby girl tight !

Happy Spring Time weekend ! Catch you next week !

Friday, January 23, 2009

"Float" - Created through Play

So if you read my last post , you know that this week I experienced a perfect moment...ahhhh...

What does and artist try and do when they experience a perfect moment ? They try and capture it somehow in a piece of art.

So yesterday, I tried to recapture my perfect moment in an art journal page :

ICK!!!! Ya, the background was okay. I like my trees made with a stencil I cut out myself. The spatter of snow is alright too - used a tooth brush with pearl paint - my entire table and all its contents have "glitter snow" on them now. But the GIRL ?!!!

So sweet she makes my teeth hurt ! I love her shape - I copied the pose from a dancer in a magazine. I always wanted long red hair, so I thought, I'm the artist, I can have the hair if I want it! But she is just too...sweet. Period.

Unhappy with the page, I decided to do the fearless artist thing and start to play ! First, I tore the page out of my journal, and sliced it up !!!

Then I glued in down in a bizarre order in another bigger journal.


Hmm, this was a little more interesting... could be a funky background for something else or...

I could cover the page with some black gesso - using a skewer and rolling some gesso on as well as one of my favorite hand cut stamps - the "points", and a rag in some spots.

Now this is getting somewhere fun - check out the texture ! Oh, you can still see "sweet" Kim hanging upside down in the corner !

I liked the black and white contrast. I thought about stopping there but then, the play time bug said "Just keep going !" So I did.

Here's a wash of watered down navy blue over the page :

I liked how the blue absorbed more in some spots than others. Here is a close- up shot that shows some sweet textures once again but this time in blue :

Then, I took a break for a couple of hours. I came back to the page after surfing for awhile. During my blogland travels, I saw a list of journaling ideas at Misty Mawn's Journal Page a Day in January project. I have seen so many people working on this, and have wanted to jump in but have been feeling like I can't commit to anything everyday - especially in January !!! But nothing was preventing me from jumping on from where I am right now, right ? Friday's prompt was to do a page inspired by your favorite artist. I have so many favs but some how Teesha Moore has been in my head lately - the whole black, Zentangles, gothic look, kind of goes with my early January frame of mind I guess ! ;-)

So with that in mind, here's where "Sweet Kim" ended up after about an hour, using Faber Castell Pitt pens (Manga Set), a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white, a Figgy Pudding rubber stamp (the birdie) and one small collage element (see if you can find it !):

(click to enlarge)

"Float"

(I see Teesha in here, but also Chagall...)

(And even some Leah Piken Kolidas....)

But most of all, instead of "sweet Kim", I see "Fearless Artist Kim" , who took a chance and played....

(Inner Critic's last word : I am sorry about the quality of some of the photos here ! I am still learning the amazingly powerful Rebel and also in the winter in the studio - lighting is an issue. Anyhow, David and I are taking a photography class starting tomorrow morning so I will hopefully improve my close-up shots soon with a little more practice ! "Float" ROCKS though - that is this critic's opinion !!!)

(ARTIST'S LAST WORD : no way the Critic is getting the last word !!! The collage element is the hand ! I wish I could draw that well ! ;-))